Elmwood Players are excited to present the NZ Premiere of “Always A Bridesmaid” this April. Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, collectively known as Jones Hope Wooten, enjoy the reputation of being three of the most popular and widely-produced playwrights in the United States. They specialize in writing laugh-out-loud comedies and creating vivid strong roles for women. Between them, they've written classic television, hit movies, Off Broadway comedy and plays such as “Dearly Beloved”, “The Red Velvet Cake War” and “Always A Bridesmaid”.

‘Top This’ by Emilia MarriottDir: Emilia Marriott and Sam PrimroseDramedy. A therapist tries a different approach by using acting techniques, to help her reluctant patients open up about their recent suicide attempts. NOTE: therapist can be played by a female or male

‘The Death of Ellen Moore’ by Jon AmesburyDir: Jon AmesburyA 'confrontative drama' examining the human response to death and the impact it has on the individual and those who are left behind. It is a gritty drama focussing on the emotions of grief, despair and the finality of death.

‘The Real Problem’ by Bruce KaneDir: Craig WoolgarIn a comedy about love and men, Shakespeare's Juliet gets conflicting advice from the ever loyal and romantic Desdemona, “Taming of the Shrew’s” Katherine, who claims that “all men are pigs”; and, finally, the head of Henry VIII’s late wife Anne Boleyn, who believes women should be free to pursue their appetites… in spite of her present condition.

Background In July 1955, a blonde bombshell, Ruth Ellis, was the last woman was hanged in Britain. She was 28. As a working class night-club hostess in a club where there was more than drink on offer, Ruth Ellis had dreams about her future. She also had two children. Her passionate and tragic affair with an upper-class racing driver, David Blakely, ended in murder.

1955 was also the year when Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister, when Stirling Moss won the Grand Prix, when Princess Margaret broke off her engagement to Captain Peter Townsend, and when the aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal was completed. In short, Great Britain was in transition, struggling to find a new identity and to reconcile the old with the new.

The class system however, was still very evident, and it was a time of rampant sexism. Domestic violence and sexual exploitation had, as Amanda Whittington herself says “barely been named”. There was little recognition of mental health issues. Although the play tells a story, it also explores society’s perception of women, and how this affects the justice meted out to them.

This play was originally performed at the New Vic in 2013. Amanda Whittington is the author of a number of plays, including Ladies Day, Tipping the Velvet, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Be My Baby and Amateur Girl. It requires strong ensemble playing. The film, Dance with a Stranger also tells the same story, but from a different perspective.CastRuth Ellis -Samantha RainesVicky Martin - Libby WilsonSylvia Shaw - Louisa StewartDoris Judd - Nikki BleyendaalInspector Jack Gale - Julian Anderson

An absurd, fast-paced comedy by Tom Basden, the writer of some of Britain's most acclaimed TV comedies (Fresh Meat, Plebs). Flight BA043 has crashed on an island. Stranded, three ill-matched colleagues en route to a work conference in Australia find themselves dumped in the tropics with 16-year-old Erin, whose parents died in the crash. But there’s no time to mourn Erin’s loss when there’s sunbathing to be done and other passengers’ suitcases to loot for goodies.

It is also likely that some/all of the plays will be entered in this year's NZTF Short Play Festival, so cast must be available for this.Full details of the three plays will be updated to this page shortly.

“The Dumb Waiter” (Harold Pinter; Dir. Sonya Cameron)Gus and Ben are on the job, waiting and listening. Into the waiting silence rattles the dumb waiter with extraordinary demands for dishes they cannot supply - and who is operating the dumb waiter in an empty house? In a while their victim will come and they will know what to do.

“Cosmic Fruit Bowl” (Rosemary Frisino Toohey; Dir. Anna Willows)Think living in a fishbowl is tough? Try a fruit bowl. Talk about tension! There’s Orange, the self-centred star, Apple, the guy hiding a secret, and Banana, bruised by self-doubt. Is the focus on looks? Or what’s inside? Appeal? Or a peel?The arrival of a strange fruit from down under only ups the ante. Is Kiwi truly a fruit or---horrors!---a bird? And will she be accepted, or will one of the regulars be rejected? There’s lots more than seeds and juice in this fruit bow“A Night Out” (Frank Vickery; Dir. Shani Annand-Baron)Seizing the opportunity, while her parents are out, Doreen decides to invite round Eric, her boyfriend. However, the evening is doomed to failure for all concerned: Doreen tries to calm Eric's passions while Mam and Dad overcome a ruined hair-do, the losing of all-important tickets and the car's flat battery only to find that they have the wrong night.

Bouncers can make or break your night – just by one simple lift of their arm the hand will either beckon you inside or stop you dead in your tracks.Whatever the outcome you know that you don’t want to mess with them.

Have you ever given a thought to the lives that these men lead, the things that they see, the worries they have and what fantasies they lose themselves to.

Well set ‘oop north’ in a nightclub called Mr Cinders you are about to find this all out.

Hilary, an anguished north London heroine, has made it to 50 with not nearly enough to show for it: her ever-texting teenage daughter is in a state of perpetual, highly sexed rebellion,her marriage has sagged into severe disrepair and her worthy job on a local ‘reading support’ unit is falling prey to the cuts.​Cast:HilaryAnna Willows

MarkRob Smith

TillyStella Cheersmith

FrancesAmanda Shields

LyndseyJordan Knight

BeaUrsula Cheer

RolandBarry Tomkinson

JoshBrett McPhail

CamSam Primrose

“It’s funny, deliciously rude and at times piercingly moving…” The Guardian